Typical vertebral column surgical procedures include vertebral fusion, insertion of implants such as pedicle screws, discography, percutaneous disectomy, or the like. These procedures typically require a large invasive operation that exposes the patient to a high risk of infection, excessive trauma, blood or fluid loss, post operative pain, scaring, and lengthy recovery time.
Some difficulties relating to surgery on the vertebral column include, for example, micro-movement of the vertebral column and of vertebral bodies to each other (which may be a risk for injuring extremely delicate nerve tissue or the spinal cord). Another difficulty encountered in vertebral column surgical procedures is the limited operating room space available to the surgeon. Such space limitations are typically due to relatively large support equipment, such as C-arm X-ray devices, that are in the operating room and used during such procedures. Furthermore, the patient and operating room staff are sometimes exposed to large doses of radiation because these procedures require repeated X-raying and/or fluoroscopy of the surgical site to enable the surgeon to view the position of surgical tools or implants relative to non-visible body parts.
If injuries of the spinal cord are treated, drugs should be delivered as precise and accurate as possible. For example Cordaneurin® from NEURAXO Biopharmaceuticals GmbH can be applied to provoke recovery of sensory and motor function of the spinal nerves, which has been already successfully demonstrated in pre-clinical studies.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,837,892 B2 discloses a miniature surgical robot and a method for using such robot, wherein the miniature surgical robot can be directly attached to a bone of a patient. Two-dimensional X-ray images of the robot on the bone can be registered, for example, with three-dimensional CT images of the bone. This locates the robot precisely on the bone of the patient. The robot then can be directed to pre-operatively determined positions based on a plan devised by the surgeon. The robot then can move to the requested surgical site, and a sleeve can be aligned according to the plan such that the surgeon can insert a surgical tool (e.g., a screwdriver, drill bit, or Kirschner wire) into the sleeve. Via the sleeve, the tool can be aligned with the area so as to conduct the operation percutaneously or in traditional open procedures.